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Understanding the Off Duty “Personal Conveyance” Provision for CMV Drivers

The recently published FMCSA guidance on personal conveyance provides additional flexibility for fleets that choose to allow their drivers to utilize off-duty driving or personal conveyance. The flexibility comes from the removal of the “unladen” term, which eliminates the strict requirement for a driver’s vehicle to be “empty,” and the appropriate use scenarios in Interpretation Question #26 from §395.8.

Each personal conveyance scenario will be reviewed by enforcement based on at least these 4 primary points:

  1.  Is the driver ill or fatigued? Does the driver’s condition allow them to safely drive the vehicle?”
  2. Is the driver off-duty? See the definition of on-duty in §395.2 which includes any work in support of the business or time involved in business activities. Unless the driver is completely released from duty and free to pursue activities of their choosing, the driver must log on-duty.
  3. Is the move purely personal with no benefit to the business? A move benefitting the business would include moving closer to the driver’s next pick up or delivery, or a maintenance move performed to support the business.
  4. Is the move to strictly seek the closest, safe place to park, even if a driver has moved along the route line to the next business-related location?

7 Examples of Appropriate Uses of a CMV While Off-duty for Personal Conveyance

The following are examples of appropriate uses of a CMV while off-duty for personal conveyance include, but are not limited to:

  1.  Time spent traveling from a driver’s en route lodging (such as a motel or truck stop) to restaurants and entertainment facilities.
  2. Commuting between the driver’s terminal and his or her residence, between trailer-drop lots and the driver’s residence, and between work sites and his or her residence. In these scenarios, the commuting distance combined with the release from work and start to work times must allow the driver enough time to obtain the required restorative rest as to ensure the driver is not fatigued.
  3. Time spent traveling to a nearby, reasonable, safe location to obtain required rest after loading or unloading. The time driving under personal conveyance must allow the driver adequate time to obtain the required rest in accordance with minimum off-duty periods under 49 CFR 395.3(a)(1) (property-carrying vehicles) or 395.5(a) (passenger-carrying vehicles) before returning to on-duty driving, and the resting location must be the first such location reasonably available.
  4. Moving a CMV at the request of a safety official during the driver’s off-duty time
  5. Time spent traveling in a motorcoach without passengers to en route lodging (such as motel or truck stop), or to restaurants and entertainment facilities and back to the lodging. In this scenario, the driver of the motorcoach can claim personal conveyance provided the driver is off-duty. Other off-duty drivers may be on board the vehicle, and are not considered passengers.
  6. Time spent transporting personal property while off-duty.
  7. Authorized use of a CMV to travel home after working at an offsite location.

Honesty, Please

A recent report from Stay Metrics, a driver engagement platform, stated that of 100 professional drivers hired today, 33 of them will quit within three months and another 22 percent will be gone within six months. These numbers should tell us something. 

It’s not only difficult to attract and retain drivers, it’s expensive. The American Trucking Associations reported a slight increase in recent turnover rates at large fleets, despite remaining at what they called, “historically low levels.” The turnover rate, or the percentage of drivers who leave a fleet on a calendar basis is at 74 percent.

What if 74 percent of your recruiters left every year? What if 74 percent of your human resource department left every year? Why do we accept this level of “resignations” from our drivers?

When I want insight from professional drivers, I turn to the nearly 11,000 members on our Facebook group. Recently I asked them to offer a piece of advice for recruiters. The response was overwhelming, and most of the comments were about honesty.

In fact, nearly every posting was about being misled by a recruiter. “They set the stage for [the] driver’s experience,” wrote Kim, “If it starts out with lies, the driver will always have a bit of resentment the whole time [they’re with the carrier].”

Many of the comments were about understanding what a driver is looking for at a carrier. “Please do not try to just let me fill a seat,” said Pam, “instead, find out if the company and myself would be a good fit.” The drivers felt the recruiters weren’t looking out for the driver’s best interest, but spent more time selling the company than listening.

“Don’t tell me what you think I want to hear,” wrote Cheyenne. Many of the remarks were advice to be honest about the negatives as well as the positives about a company, because the driver will find out about the policy later and could leave as a result of the misinformation. Omitting information is as bad as lying about something.

Deb wrote, “Don’t waste everyone’s time and money by not stating the job properly and [not revealing] all the company’s policies from accepting loads to home time.

Another theme from the drivers was about the relationship after the driver is hired. “Don’t let the kindness stop at recruiting,” said Dan. Recruiters should continue to stay in touch to ensure the driver is not becoming unhappy with the carrier. One driver said his recruiter called him before orientation, the night after his first class and several times during his hiring and training experience and said he appreciated the contact.

In a follow up to the request for advice for recruiters, I posted a poll to ask for the top misconception they were told by their last recruiter. The number one response was “not enough miles.” Forty percent of the respondents said they were misled about the number of miles they were running once they were hired.

A close second misunderstanding reported by the drivers was that their home time was not as promised. Stay Metrics found that men are more likely to leave a company because they want more home time. Women reportedly leave due to equipment issues. This research involved 12,502 driver’s responses at 78 carriers. Perhaps women ask more probing questions to better understand the time away from home expectations.

Although a pet policy wasn’t high on the list of recruiter’s misconceptions, it was mentioned a number of times by drivers. From the number of pets to the size and even the breed type, recruiters gave the wrong information to drivers with pets. “Called a company and they said all the pets would be no problem,” wrote Kari, “[then I] show up for orientation and the policy is one pet,” she added. Since drivers have pets both for security reasons and for companionship, a pet policy is an important one to understand up front.

Stop lying, be honest, don’t lie, offer the truth, and similar remarks were the top advice suggestions from the group. The recruiting industry has an image problem and it is proven by the high turnover numbers at the carriers.

The solution seems simple enough as stated by Angela….”honesty please.”

 

© 2016, Women in Trucking
PO Box 400 Plover, WI 54467 | Phone: 1-888-464-9482

Report: Implementing GPS in the United States Postal Service Supply Chain

We have learned that applying technology to a problem may not solve the problem.  It is the people using the technology as a tool that solves problems.  At JBA, we have learned that technology is a lever, that can work for you – or against you.

The US Postal Service is embarking on another GPS project.  The USPS Office of Inspector General (OIG) examined the project to assess chances for success.  This is an interesting exercise with lessons for anyone implementing a technology project.

 

From the OIG report;

Background

The U.S. Postal Service has spent about $7.6 million since fiscal year (FY) 2010 on its Logistics Condition Reporting System (LCRS). The system was intended to collect and report Highway Contract Route (HCR) Global Positioning System (GPS) data and monitor HCR performance. Because of inaccurate data reporting and system compatibility issues the Postal Service is replacing the LCRS and the GPS devices.

Our prior audit work identified that the Postal Service did not develop a strategic framework for the GPS program or a detailed implementation plan.

The Postal Service manages a trailer fleet of 3,600 owned trailers, 8,500 leased trailers, and a changing number (from 40,000 to 50,000) of HCR contracted trailers. Management identified that accounting for trailers has been a problem and has resulted in missing or lost trailers, as well as excess trailers at some facilities and not enough at other facilities. The Postal Service plans to use GPS trailer tracking to measure usage, location visibility, and estimated time of arrival; and to optimize travel routes.

In June 2016, the Postal Service initiated a new GPS technology solution to manage trailers. This technology solution will rely on new GPS equipment and a new hardware and software system known as Enterprise Transportation Analytics (ETA). The ETA system will include three modules for managing owned, leased, and HCR contracted trailers. Management is modeling the hardware and software on the Delivery Management System currently used to manage delivery routes.

The Postal Service is using a two-phased approach for implementation beginning with owned and leased trailers in April 2017, and then HCR contracted trailers in July 2017. Management projects the GPS units and the ETA system to be fully operational by July 2017, with a FY 2017 cost of about $18.5 million.

Our objective was to assess the Postal Service’s plan to improve its management of trailers by using GPS data.

What the OIG Found

The Postal Service’s plan to improve its management of trailers by using GPS data was insufficient. Specifically, management did not develop a plan with metrics to show how benefits would be achieved, did not use analysis to substantiate savings, and did not identify associated savings and operational benefits for leased and HCR-contracted trailers.

The Postal Service developed system requirements and plans for GPS unit procurement, but did not develop performance metrics to measure the achievement of intended GPS initiative benefits for all trailer categories. This occurred because management tested ETA system functionality using hand-held mobile device scanners as opposed to using actual trailer-mounted GPS units. Additionally, management has not established a schedule to pilot the GPS units prior to deployment. As a result, management could not obtain sufficient data to set operational baselines and metrics.

In June 2016, management approved about $2.4 million in funding for ETA system hardware and software, along with the GPS units for owned trailers. The approval projected annual savings of over $1.2 million by increasing the utilization of Postal Service-owned trailers and reducing the number of leased trailers. Management based the projected savings on institutional knowledge rather than analysis, making it impossible to substantiate the projected annual savings.

Additionally, the Postal Service plans to purchase about 47,000 GPS units costing about $16 million for its leased and HCR-contracted trailers (at $2.4 and $13.6 million, respectively) in FY 2017. However, management did not identify any associated savings or operational benefits from this purchase because they consider it to be a current operating expense.

Consequently, without sufficient planning, we estimate that the Postal Service incurred about $2.5 million in unsupported questioned costs in FY 2017.

What the OIG Recommended

We recommended that management suspend GPS implementation — except for the ETA systems module development — and establish initiative milestones in the following sequence:

  • Test and validate the ETA system when all modules are fully operational;
  • Conduct a pilot program with the fully operational ETA system and the GPS trailer units to validate the complete technology solution;
  • Develop a plan with established and validated performance metrics using the ETA system and GPS data; and
  • Deploy the remaining GPS units based on decision points from the above analytics.

Additionally we recommended management identify and validate specific cost savings to support the GPS technology investment of about $18.5 million.

You can read the entire USPS OIG report here.